I’ve heard it before, and I’m sure I’ll hear it again. Mostly from Bubba as he’s very well aware of the way I work.
It was in 1995, that was eight years ago, that I first turned in a whole year’s worth of horoscopes on a floppy disk. Handed them to the editor at the time, and that was around Thanksgiving. Might’ve been early November, if I recall, which I don’t, I was in Dallas for a family thing.
That was when the scopes ran about 75 words per sign. There was an urgency and tautness to my style at the time, which, these days, frankly, is missing.
Apparently the gremlins’ abilities with typographical errors still manage to escape copy editors, proofreaders and even myself, and that spirit carries on!
What Bubba was referring to, was the fact that I tend to work, on the average, one year in advance. It makes for peace of mind. It means I can safely sleep at night, knowing that, hell or high water, my scopes are done.
I was burning a picture CD for Sister for Xmas. Primarily, it’s just a back up of the last few months’ images. But buried on that CD, I’ll have those rough draft copies of next year’s scopes. No links, full of errors I’m sure, and not done in a “ready to print” form, but still.
Sure, they’re going to missing topical references to current events, I can always go back and edit that in, but the backbone is done. The framework now exists.
That last Xmas column, though, it was terribly difficult to write. Hard to be happy when I’ve received a litany of complaints from every sign. Seems like no one likes this week’s scopes.
Maybe that Capricorn artist guy will do up an appropriate picture, something that catches my true feelings about the complaining parties.
However, for me, it’s a triumph. Next year is properly sketched out. I feel better.
Solutions: war, missiles, grunge – dirty laundry?
The media was awash with reports about missiles. Then there’s the threat of war, and some place, some students were arrested for protesting the war. It’s gotten to the point that I duck media whenever I can. The fewer current events, the better.
Which doesn’t mean that the free Wall Street Journal gets missed. What caught my eye, print media is so out-of-date by the time the news hits the wires, anyway, what I read on the bus ride home was about grunge. “Noveaux Grunge,” was the term. I might have it wrong. I tossed the paper long before I rolled into the trailer park.
The article was mostly splashy graphics with little substance, other than grunge is back. In other words, the cycles are getting closer together. What was cool less than a decade ago is already back as a potential fad. Apparently, this has retailers worried.
The price of beer is going up, too, and apparently, from what I read, the average beer-drinker is just moving on over to the cheaper product. Viva Lone Star! (Brewed in Ft. Worth, I’m pretty sure.)
But the good news about grunge being back in as a trend means I’ll be pretty hip again. Long, unkempt hair, shredded clothing, looking like I was dumpster diving as a fashion statement? I’m hip again. Only took it 9 years to cycle back. Well.
I was all set to do a pile of laundry, but after reading about fashion on the front page of the “personal” section of the Journals[/rurl>, I might just dig out the dirty jeans and wear them again. Have to be cool, these days, that’s a challenge.
